Banjo structure

ABSTRACT

A banjo in which the drum head is stretched on and secured to a ring that can be separated from the remainder of the banjo with the drum head still secured to the ring.

United States Patent Teel et a1.

[54] BANJO STRUCTURE 1 51 Dec. 26, 1972 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Primary Examiner-Richard B. Wilkinson Assistant Examiner-Lawrence R. Franklin [5 7] ABSTRACT A banjo in which the drum head is stretched on'and secured to a ring that can be separated from the remainder of the banjo with the drum head still secured to the ring.

3 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures BANJO STRUCTURE BACKGROUND The company for which the inventors work makes musical instruments of the class known as folk instruments. One of these is the so called mountain style banjo. In this instrument, the drum head is clamped at its periphery between two rings made of wood and caused to be tightly stretched by drawing another ring toward the first two in order to push a tone ring up against the drumhead. The company has made a number of banjos this way. It is not only tedious but difficult to do this consistently and well. About 50 percent of the banjos the company has made this way have been broken in the process of trying to draw the drum heads up tight.

In addition to making completed instruments, the company offers most of the instruments made in the form of kits which the purchaser assembles into an instrument. The company wanted to offer the banjo in kit form. It did not seem practical, however, since we were not generally successful at the company. If personel at the company could succeed only fifty percent of the time, obviously a kit would be a poor bet in the hands of the averagely skilled do-it-yourself person. It is from this background that the invention comes.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION It finally occurred to us that it would be possible to make a drum head that would be pre -stretched on a ring that simply slips into a frame that would both take the thrust of the strings and also be decorative. In this manner, we are able to offer a kit which is practical because success is nearly assured. Only a rather small percent of the type of people who are likely to try assembling the kit at all will not be able to get a satisfactory instrument. The pre-stretched head is held in place by the tension of the strings on the bridge. This provides sufficient pressure that a very satisfactory banjo sound is produced. The structure is clearly shown in the accompanying drawings in which:

THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a plan view. of our mountain style banjo, and

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken on the line and in the direction of the arrows 22 in FIG. 1; FIG. 2 is drawn to a larger scale than FIG. 1

DETAILED DESCRIPTION In FIG. 1 the instrument is generally designated and is made up of three main parts. These are the exterior head frame 11, the neck 17 and drum head assembly l819. On the neck are the usual tuners 25, here shown as geared tuners but which may be any conventional type of tuner. The tuners 25 are used to tension correctly the strings 21 which are held at the other end by the string anchors 20. The strings are supported above the drum head 19 by a conventional bridge 22. At 26 is seen the conventional fifth peg with its separate nut 27. A conventional nut 24 serves both to properly space the strings latterally and hold them the correct distance above the finger board portion of the banjo, in this case, the top of neck 17 between the head and nut 24.

The head of the banjo is made up of a separate frame 18 on which the drum head 19 is pre-stretched and secured in a taut condition, and the exterior frame made up of rings 1 1, 12 and 14. In the structure shown, drum head ring 18 is of stout wood and the drum head is animal hide that has been wet and drawn tightly over the ring 18 before being secured. As the hide dries, it shrinks, thus drawing it even more tightly over the ring. One can imagine what this portion of the structure is like if one imagines a small fixed tuning tambourine without jingles.

The exterior frame or ring for the banjo is here shown constructed'to have the appearance of at least some of the mountain banjos we have seen. Rings 11 and 12 are about two inches wide and with a hole in the center'that is slightly larger than the outside diameter of ring 18 with the drum head 19 secured to it. Bottom ring 14 is the same external diameter as rings 1 1 and 12 but has a smaller center hole 13. This results in a shelf like portion surrounding the hole 13 and on which the ring 18 may rest. As shown here, small spacers 33 have been set on the shelf so that ring 18 is held at an elevation' relative to the upper face of ring 11, which is the top ring. This elevation is to some extent at least a matter of the makers preference. A taller.bridge 22 would make it possible to have the drum head 19 lower down in the frame than is shown here.

Before rings l1, l2 and 14 are finally glued together, a portion of ring 12 is removed which leaves a hole or socket 15 formed by the lower surface of ring 11, the two sides of the cut portion of ring 12 and the upper surface of ring 14. Into this socket a tang 16 is fitted. A portion of tang 16 extends beyond the rings so that neck 17 may be secured to it and thus be secured to the head rings 11, 12 and 14. As shown here, a pin 23 extends through the rings 14, the tang l6 and into the ring 11. This is optional structure. We have found that it is possible to let the tension of the strings alone hold the tang in the socket 15.

The invention is described particularly as required by law in the following claims.

We claim: 1. A banjo structure comprising: an exterior head frame structure including support means;

an interior head structure comprising, a ring fitting within said exterior headframe structure and resting on said support means, a drum head stretched on said ring and secured thereto in a taut condition independent of said exterior head frame means, a bridge located on said drum head,

means for securing a neck to said exterior head frame structure only,

and strings connected to said neck and to said exterior head frame structure, said strings bearing on said bridge.

2. The banjo structure of claim 1 in which said exterior head frame structure comprises wooden rings glued together,

and said support means comprises a shelf resulting from the center hole in at least one of the rings being larger than the center hole in at least one other ring. 7

3. The banjo structure of claim 2 in which the means for securing a neck exterior head frame structure is a socket in the side of said exterior head frame structure,

and a tang fitting into said socket, said tang terminating at the edge of said larger center hole. 

1. A banjo structure comprising: an exterior head frame structure including support means; an interior head structure comprising, a ring fitting within said exterior headframe structure and resting on said support means, a drum head stretched on said ring and secured thereto in a taut condition independent of said exterior head frame means, a bridge located on said drum head, means for securing a neck to said exterior head frame structure only, and strings connected to said neck and to said exterior head frame structure, said strings bearing on said bridge.
 2. The banjo structure of claim 1 in which said exterior head frame structure comprises wooden rings glued together, and said support means comprises a shelf resulting from the center hole in at least one of the rings being larger than the center hole in at least one other ring.
 3. The banjo structure of claim 2 in which the means for securing a neck exterior head frame structure is a socket in the side of said exterior head frame structure, and a tang fitting into said socket, said tang terminating at the edge of said larger center hole. 